Ryan Fitchpatrick is currently the director of bands at Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama. He attended Jacksonville State University where he earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree. He then served as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Alabama where he earned a Master of Music Education.
Mr. Fitchpatrick is in his twenty-sixth year of teaching as a high school director. Prior to serving at Hoover, he was the director of bands at Oak Grove High School in Oak Grove, Alabama. While at Oak Grove he helped lead the program to such accomplishments as Bands of America, Super Regional Class Champion and performing at the Alabama Music Educators Association Conference. While serving as the director at Hoover High School for the past seventeen years, the band program has received superior ratings consistently. Under his leadership, the marching band has grown to membership exceeding 350 and traveled across the country while performing at football games, parades, and exhibitions. The competition marching band has won many grand champion awards and been a finalist at numerous BOA regionals. Mr. Fitchpatrick has conducted Hoover’s top jazz ensemble at the 66th, 72nd , and 77th, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. He has led the Hoover “Symphonic Winds” to premier performances at numerous university honor band festivals, National Adjudicators Invitational, Grand NAI, Music for All-National Concert Band Festival, the AMEA Conference, as well as the 2020 CBDNA/NBA Southern Division Conference.
Mr. Fitchpatrick has served on the Alabama Bandmasters Association Executive Board as District IV Chairman. His professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education, Alabama Music Educators Association, Alabama Bandmasters Association, National Band Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Beta Mu Bandmaster Fraternity, and Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society. He has been featured as one of School Band & Orchestra’s “50 Directors Who Make a Difference” as well as the recipient of multiple National Band Association’s Citations of Excellence. Additionally, Mr. Fitchpatrick has enjoyed performing with the Birmingham based, Super Jazz Orchestra and Alabama Winds, a statewide community band. Mr. Fitchpatrick lives in Hoover with his wife Adrian, son Brayden, and daughters Kinsley and Ellerey.
